Bengaluru, NFAPost: Indian women entrepreneurs are making new strides in business, said former Karnataka Chief Secretary K Ratnaprabha, who is also founder of UBUNTU consortium of women entrepreneurs.
She was speaking at the Business Convention-Forging Links, Leveraging Networks- Reaching Out’ organised by eMERG as part of its 7th edition of the Flagship event on Thursday, The one day event is aimed at drawing together around 250 women professionals, entrepreneurs and businesswomen.
Recalling her bureaucratic days, K Ratnaprabha said she had an interesting journey as an IAS officer. “In fact, I was one of the first women officers to head industries and commerce departments. It was the time when the industry’s policy was being framed. I went through the entire draft only to realise that there was nothing special for women as women entrepreneurs were clubbed with other categories,” said K Ratnaprabha.
She said during he stint she did a lot of research and then offered a lot of sops to women. “This started providing fruits. Karnataka which was 13th in the national-level ranking, soon went up to eighth and then came first. Since then, Karnataka has never left the numero uno status to anyone else. After retirement, I continued to be part of encouraging women entrepreneurs,” said .
K Ratnaprabha said then she decided to start a dedicated consortium of women and named it after UBUNTU as it is a great African philosophy where share one’s joy and happiness.
“We have been uniting, encouraging and promoting women entrepreneurs. Recently, we organised a digital marketing workshop and also started a WhatsApp group. Now, I am happy that so many businesses are happening through the WhatsApp networking. Now, we are planning to have an exclusive e-commerce portal for women entrepreneurs to do business. I strongly believe that we need to be united and grow together and only then will we be a force to reckon with,” said K Ratnaprabha
Earlier inaugurating the programme, Karnataka Minister for Heavy Industries Murigesh Nirani said highlighting women entrepreneurs is important.
“Participating in an industry function is like a homecoming for women In the midst of all this, no matter how difficult it is, don’t look back,” said Karnataka Minister for Heavy Industries Murigesh Nirani.
eMERG, the Engineering Manufacturer Entrepreneurs Resource Group is an association for Women in Technology, Business, Profession & Service, registered under the Societies Act, established in 2006. eMERG, a not for profit network of women with over 300 members and over 2000 indirect members across the country, supports the growth of entrepreneurial women, by providing a common platform to share thoughts and interact with network members.
Women from diverse fields will come together during the annual flagship event – Forging Links, Leveraging Networks- Reaching Out and share their experience, so as to be part of mainstream business. Delegates can network and expand business links which will help them take the next step towards growth and success.
Participants learnt about other successful women and deliberated on significant issues. The Karnataka state government and MSME, Government of India have been continuously supporting this event. The event concluded with felicitation of women in business, services and profession by honoring the achievers in various categories with the Women Achiever Awards.
The business convention was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister for LMI, Dr Murugesh Nirani while glittering Awards. Former Chief Secretary and UBUNTU Founder Smt K Ratnaprabha participated in the programme.
During the programme, there was a display of an array of products on display from members at the Trade fair occurring alongside the Business convention.
The following office bearers from UBUNTU Asha (Secretary), Rajalakshmi R (Founder-Past president), Uma Reddy (Founder President), Sumita Nayak (Present president) and Neeta Bajaj (treasurer) and Kishore Jahagaridar (Award jury) were present.
